Problems with Sephiroth: Reverse Rebirth
by Mewgia Mirrorcoat
Summary: Part II of III. Sora's problems with Sephiroth affect others too. Unfortunately for Riku, this mostly means him. So much for lunch.


Disclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and all other related subjects belong to Tetsuya Nomura, the rest of Square Enix, and Disney.

A/N: I had to make a followup to the earlier story, Problems With Sephiroth. I've actually decided to make it a three part thing, so this is part two. One can read any one of these without having read another one and still understand what happened, but I guess you would have to read all three to get the whole story. I've just got one more to write up.

And regarding Sephiroth... I've played Final Fantasy VII, so hopefully the info is correct.

Enjoy the story!

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Problems With Sephiroth – Reverse Rebirth

He had frozen when the silver haired man walked into the room, long katana in hand and single wing open for flight. Though there was no way Sephiroth could fly very far inside the room.

Sora had not noticed anything, too absorbed in his meal to realize that a rather malevolent presence had arrived. He did not see Riku's slightly dropped jaw, nor lifted eyebrows that marked the shock going through his friend.

"You, the Chosen One. I wish for a rematch."

Riku half expected Sora to dive under the table screeching, "Hide me!" However, the young Keyblade master instead glanced over his shoulder and glared with an annoyed look on his face. "Again? I BEAT you last time, I don't WANT a rematch, I want to eat my ramen, now go away!"

Wow, Sora must have been really irritated. Riku couldn't blame the younger boy; after all, Sephiroth HAD been stalking him ever since their return to Radiant Garden. It made Riku wonder what had happened to Cloud, if Sephiroth was still walking around.

No, wait. Riku had seen Cloud that morning muttering darkly to himself. Never mind.

Now they just had to deal with a very, very dangerous one-winged angel.

In one smooth move, Sephiroth whirled around and brought the edge of his Masamune to Sora's neck.

Riku still sat, completely frozen as ideas about how to get out of the situation rushed through his head.

Sora slowly turned his head and finally noticed Riku's position. As he carefully picked at his ramen, he quietly mouthed 'Help me' and tried to eat his food.

At that, Riku made his decision, thinking about the best possible way to help Sora escape from Sephiroth. Quietly, he put his chopsticks down, reaching for his water as a ruse to keep Sephiroth from noticing anything out of the ordinary.

First of all, Sora needed to disappear in the quickest way possible.

The fastest ways to make someone disappear or otherwise escape flashed through Riku's head. Among them were such things as attacking Sephiroth and running out the room. No, that wouldn't work very well, Sephiroth was blocking the entrance. Sora could glide out the window... wait, Sephiroth could fly. Dark corridor...

Perfect.

Riku gently kicked Sora, to let the other boy know that he had thought up something.

Sora seemed to understand, judging from his facial expression. Calmly, the brown-haired boy spoke again. "You know Sephiroth, it's a little pointless to try fighting in here, unless you want to splatter soup everywhere. So how about you wait a bit and challenge me later?"

So he was being negotiable today instead of charging ahead. Interesting turn of events.

Sephiroth did not move, glaring at the back of Sora's head. "No. I WILL have the fight, and so you will stand and leave the room with me to the battle grounds, where we will end this quest of vengeance."

Riku was slightly puzzled at that. When exactly had the 'quest of vengeance' begun anyway?

He blinked slightly, seeing that Sora's situation was a little more immediate than his own silent musings, and decided to just keep a note to ask Sora about the vengeance in the back of his head. Seeing that Sephiroth was going to force Sora out in any case, Riku quickly glanced over the area to decide how make Sora disappear the quickest. After a moment's consideration, he mentally nodded. Sora would just have to fall into the portal. And where would the portal lead to... maybe a shortcut straight to Ansem the Wise's study would be safest; otherwise the Dark Corridor would just leave Sora sitting literally in the middle of nowhere.

Riku carefully used his foot to nudge Sora to the left (Sora's right, Sephiroth's sword was on the other side...), knowing that he would have to make everything occur very quickly. He watched as Sora slowly stood, seemingly trying to ignore the blade at his throat. Then, as Sora began to walk, Riku focused on the floor right in Sora's path.

A dark portal opened on the ground, right as Sora stepped into it.

The keyblade master fell through without a sound, disappearing into the darkness. Riku closed the portal immediately, so Sephiroth could not follow.

The one-winged angel stopped in shock, staring at where Sora had been only moments before. Then slowly, he turned towards the only other occupant of the room, his green eyes in a narrowed glare.

About then, Riku realized that he was faced with another problem.

"One of the darkness," Sephiroth addressed.

"Twilight."

Sephiroth's glare only intensified. "Twilight," he continued, his voice showing his barely repressed rage. "Where is Sora?"

Riku knew he had to feign ignorance. "I have no idea," he answered, hoping that Sephiroth would just leave. "I have no idea what just happened or how Sora disappeared."

In a single move, Sephiroth had brought the edge of the Masamune to point at Riku. "Fool! You would know, boy of twilight, how the keyblade master disappeared, and you were the one who helped him escape!"

Riku vigorously shook his head, wondering how to get out of the mess. "No I don't! I don't know where he is or what just happened, all I know is that he's gone, and..." he tried to feign a sense of desperation, "What if he just got kidnapped?"

Sephiroth stared. "What?"

The idea quickly formed in Riku's head. "Yeah, you know that plenty of evil people want to kill him!" he lied, hoping his acting skills would help him. "What if he's just been captured, what will happen to the world then?"

The other man glowered. "Stop pretending. You can make dark portals. Where is the keyblade master?"

Riku felt even more desperate, and would have removed himself from the table to escape if not for the fact that he had a seven foot long sword pointing at his nose. "I don't know where Sora is! And I can't make dark portals any more!" he shouted, hoping that Sephiroth would believe him.

Sephiroth raised an eyebrow. "You can't?"

Riku shook his head. "No, I haven't been able to since the passing of Ansem the Wise."

Tense silence filled the room.

The blade stayed level with Riku.

"Very well," Sephiroth answered in a resigned voice. "I will continue my search for the keyblade master... but first, you will join me in a battle."

The first comment made Riku relieved. The latter one was the last thing Riku wanted to hear.

"What?"

"You heard me. You will fight me in a battle. Now."

Riku knew he was paling, and for once understood why Sora had always tried to get away from Sephiroth during the trio's more recent stays at Radiant Garden. And to think that Sora had had to fight this one-winged angel twice...

It made him relieved that he did not have to deal with all the same responsibility Sora had to.

He just had to escape somehow... without the Dark Corridor...

"So, why do you want to fight me?" he asked, just stalling as he tried to figure out some way of getting away.

"You are a keybearer. You can wield a keyblade. You, by all rights, have a privilege of being considered a possible worthy opponent, if you are anything like the Keyblade Master."

_Yeah, we are alike, we're best friends,_ Riku thought to himself, as glanced about the room wildly.

"Okay, then if I'm like him, then..." he ran out of things to say.

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed.

Riku's instincts kicked in.

He shoved the table forward and his chair back, managing to create a bit of distance between himself and the edge of the Masamune. Jumping to his feet, he summoned the Way to Dawn and dove towards the side of the table.

Sephiroth simply moved the blade, blocking Riku's path. Without a thought, Riku brought his keyblade up to knock it out of the way –

Hitting the bowl of ramen in the process.

There was a whoosh as noodles and soup went flying across the room, landing neatly in Sephiroth's face, the bowl upon his head. Sephiroth let out a cry of rage as the hot liquid scalded his scalp.

Riku decided he should leave before the One Winged Angle killed him.

Jumping over the Masamune, he saw the window and almost smashed it open in his attempt to leave. Fortunately, the window opened wide enough for him to jump after a single thwack with the keyblade, and taking the opportunity before Sephiroth regained his composure, Riku jumped out the window.

It was certainly a good thing he had become so used to jumping large distances, so falling from a window did no damage to him whatsoever. Landing gracefully on the stone outside the building, Riku bolted away down the street and took every turn he could see, soon losing himself in alleyways of the area.

He finally stopped running, glancing around to make sure the wrath of a silver haired man covered in noodles was not about to smite him. After a quick check, he allowed himself to let out a huge sigh and slide down the wall.

Quietly, he held out a hand and created a portal to where he had sent Sora. If anything, Riku now understood why Sora disliked having Sephiroth after him constantly, for now he was sure the man would want revenge for the ramen.

Lunch had been going so peacefully too. Only to be ruined by the One Winged Angel.

That ramen was going to be the death of him.


End file.
